NHRC issues show-cause notice to UP Government on custodial death case
The National Human Rights Commission has issued show-cause notice to the Government of Uttar Pradesh asking them to explain as to why recommendations should not be made by the Commission for monetary compensation to a victim of custodial death. The Government has also been asked as to why proceedings should not be initiated by the State Government to identify the delinquent police officers for prosecution.
The Commission had received complaints of death of a 19 year-old boy, Manoj Kumar, in police custody. Allegedly he had been involved in a false case by some miscreants and taken to the police. He was tortured by the police, beaten severely and deprived of food. The victim’s mother too had been maltreated in the police station. When produced in the court by the police, it had ordered for medical examination of the victim, which was ignored by the police. He expired two days later.
The Commission taking cognizance of the case had issued a notice to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Government of UP. The report received revealed that an inquiry had been conducted and it had been found that Manoj Kumar, when admitted to the district jail Agra, had a number of injuries on him. He had died the next day. The postmortem, which was conducted two days later, established that there were a number of injuries present in different parts of the body. The police report had also said that the doctors had been found responsible for not treating Manoj Kumar properly in the jail hospital.
The Commission was convinced that Manoj Kumar had died in police custody. The instructions issued by the Commission regarding medical examination of persons arrested by police, immediately after their arrest and after every 48 hours therein had not been complied with. Even the orders of the concerned court for providing medical treatment were not carried out.
In view of the material available on record, the Commission has issued a show-cause notice to the Government of UP through its Chief Secretary to explain why the Commission should not make recommendations for payment of an immediate interim relief of Rs. 2 lakhs by the State of Uttar Pradesh to the next of kin of the deceased. The Government has also been asked to explain why recommendations should not be made for initiation of proceedings by the State Government to identify the delinquent police officers, to prosecute them for the offences as well as punish them under service rules and recover the amount of compensation paid by the State Government.
The Commission has asked the UP Government to reply to the Commission’s notice by the first week of December 2000.
The Commission had received complaints of death of a 19 year-old boy, Manoj Kumar, in police custody. Allegedly he had been involved in a false case by some miscreants and taken to the police. He was tortured by the police, beaten severely and deprived of food. The victim’s mother too had been maltreated in the police station. When produced in the court by the police, it had ordered for medical examination of the victim, which was ignored by the police. He expired two days later.
The Commission taking cognizance of the case had issued a notice to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Government of UP. The report received revealed that an inquiry had been conducted and it had been found that Manoj Kumar, when admitted to the district jail Agra, had a number of injuries on him. He had died the next day. The postmortem, which was conducted two days later, established that there were a number of injuries present in different parts of the body. The police report had also said that the doctors had been found responsible for not treating Manoj Kumar properly in the jail hospital.
The Commission was convinced that Manoj Kumar had died in police custody. The instructions issued by the Commission regarding medical examination of persons arrested by police, immediately after their arrest and after every 48 hours therein had not been complied with. Even the orders of the concerned court for providing medical treatment were not carried out.
In view of the material available on record, the Commission has issued a show-cause notice to the Government of UP through its Chief Secretary to explain why the Commission should not make recommendations for payment of an immediate interim relief of Rs. 2 lakhs by the State of Uttar Pradesh to the next of kin of the deceased. The Government has also been asked to explain why recommendations should not be made for initiation of proceedings by the State Government to identify the delinquent police officers, to prosecute them for the offences as well as punish them under service rules and recover the amount of compensation paid by the State Government.
The Commission has asked the UP Government to reply to the Commission’s notice by the first week of December 2000.